Hurricane Rita made landfall during the morning of September 24th near the Texas, Louisiana state line at  the Sabine Pass. The outer bands of Rita affected portions of Southwest Mississippi, all of Northeast Louisiana and a portion of Southern Arkansas early Saturday into Sunday. The major impacts from this hurricane were the large severe weather/tornado outbreak, heavy rainfall and lastly, tropical storm force winds and gusts across the west and southwest portion of the area.The severe weather outbreak, spawned from the outer edges of Rita, lasted about 36 hours from Saturday into Sunday evening. Officially, 55 tornadoes occurred across the Jackson, Ms, National Weather Service (NWS), county warning area (CWA). This makes the tornado outbreak during Rita the largest tornado outbreak in  the NWS Jackson CWA in recorded history. Of the 55 total tornadoes, 1 was rated an F3 and 7 were rated F2. Additionally, 1 fatality occurred in Humphreys county and there were a total of 16 injuries. As a final note, tornado outbreaks are not uncommon during landfalling tropical cyclones. In fact, Hurricane Andrew produced 26 tornadoes across Mississippi in late August 1992. As you can see, the tornadoes during Rita (55) far surpass what occurred with Andrew (26).Heavy rain became a problem as a large area across Western Mississippi, Northeast Louisiana and Southeast Arkansas received 4 to 7 inches of rain. A smaller corridor of the region, generally along the Big Black River, received 7 to 10 inches early Sunday morning. This heavy rain caused areas of flooding for many locations with the worst flooding occurring in an area close to the Big Black River. The most significant flooding occurred in Warren and Yazoo counties were many homes were flooded as well several as roads washed out. Additionally, this heavy rain fell at a vulnerable time for many crops across the region. The main impact was to the cotton crop as many plants had the cotton open then became wet as the heavy rains fell.Lastly, tropical storm force winds extended out far enough from Rita to give a portion of the region sustained winds between 25 and 35 mph with wind gusts as high as 40 to 50 mph. These gradient winds from Rita were mainly confined to areas west of Interstate 55 from Grenada to Jackson, and then south-eastward from Jackson to Columbia. These winds were responsible for downing many trees and power lines across the western portion of the Jackson CWA, as well as having some trees fall on homes.

Hurricane (Typhoon) in JEFFERSON, MISSISSIPPI
From 24-SEP-05 08:00:00 to 25-SEP-05 21:00:00 (CST)
Property damage: 40K
Crop damage: 200K
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.

Hurricane (Typhoon) in JEFFERSON DAVIS, MISSISSIPPI
From 24-SEP-05 08:00:00 to 25-SEP-05 21:00:00 (CST)
Property damage: 10K
Crop damage: 20K
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.

Hurricane (Typhoon) in LAWRENCE, MISSISSIPPI
From 24-SEP-05 08:00:00 to 25-SEP-05 21:00:00 (CST)
Property damage: 10K
Crop damage: 20K
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.

Hurricane (Typhoon) in LINCOLN, MISSISSIPPI
From 24-SEP-05 08:00:00 to 25-SEP-05 21:00:00 (CST)
Property damage: 10K
Crop damage: 20K
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.

Hurricane (Typhoon) in MADISON, MISSISSIPPI
From 24-SEP-05 08:00:00 to 25-SEP-05 21:00:00 (CST)
Property damage: 10K
Crop damage: 30K
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.

Hurricane (Typhoon) in MARION, MISSISSIPPI
From 24-SEP-05 08:00:00 to 25-SEP-05 21:00:00 (CST)
Property damage: 10K
Crop damage: 10K
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.

Hurricane (Typhoon) in RANKIN, MISSISSIPPI
From 24-SEP-05 08:00:00 to 25-SEP-05 21:00:00 (CST)
Property damage: 20K
Crop damage: 10K
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.

Hurricane (Typhoon) in SHARKEY, MISSISSIPPI
From 24-SEP-05 08:00:00 to 25-SEP-05 21:00:00 (CST)
Property damage: 10K
Crop damage: 100K
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.

Hurricane (Typhoon) in SIMPSON, MISSISSIPPI
From 24-SEP-05 08:00:00 to 25-SEP-05 21:00:00 (CST)
Property damage: 20K
Crop damage: 40K
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.

Hurricane (Typhoon) in WARREN, MISSISSIPPI
From 24-SEP-05 08:00:00 to 25-SEP-05 21:00:00 (CST)
Property damage: 50K
Crop damage: 40K
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.

Hurricane (Typhoon) in YAZOO, MISSISSIPPI
From 24-SEP-05 08:00:00 to 25-SEP-05 21:00:00 (CST)
Property damage: 10K
Crop damage: 200K
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.

Hurricane (Typhoon) in WASHINGTON, MISSISSIPPI
From 24-SEP-05 08:00:00 to 25-SEP-05 21:00:00 (CST)
Property damage: 15K
Crop damage: 200K
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.

Hurricane (Typhoon) in BOLIVAR, MISSISSIPPI
From 24-SEP-05 08:00:00 to 25-SEP-05 21:00:00 (CST)
Property damage: 10K
Crop damage: 200K
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.

Hurricane (Typhoon) in SUNFLOWER, MISSISSIPPI
From 24-SEP-05 08:00:00 to 25-SEP-05 21:00:00 (CST)
Property damage: 10K
Crop damage: 150K
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.

Hurricane (Typhoon) in LEFLORE, MISSISSIPPI
From 24-SEP-05 08:00:00 to 25-SEP-05 21:00:00 (CST)
Property damage: 10K
Crop damage: 100K
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.

Hurricane (Typhoon) in CARROLL, MISSISSIPPI
From 24-SEP-05 08:00:00 to 25-SEP-05 21:00:00 (CST)
Property damage: 10K
Crop damage: 50K
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.

Hurricane (Typhoon) in HUMPHREYS, MISSISSIPPI
From 24-SEP-05 08:00:00 to 25-SEP-05 21:00:00 (CST)
Property damage: 30K
Crop damage: 200K
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.

Hurricane (Typhoon) in HOLMES, MISSISSIPPI
From 24-SEP-05 08:00:00 to 25-SEP-05 21:00:00 (CST)
Property damage: 10K
Crop damage: 100K
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.

Hurricane (Typhoon) in ADAMS, MISSISSIPPI
From 24-SEP-05 08:00:00 to 25-SEP-05 21:00:00 (CST)
Property damage: 60K
Crop damage: 200K
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.

Hurricane (Typhoon) in CLAIBORNE, MISSISSIPPI
From 24-SEP-05 08:00:00 to 25-SEP-05 21:00:00 (CST)
Property damage: 40K
Crop damage: 100K
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.

Hurricane (Typhoon) in COPIAH, MISSISSIPPI
From 24-SEP-05 08:00:00 to 25-SEP-05 21:00:00 (CST)
Property damage: 20K
Crop damage: 40K
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.

Hurricane (Typhoon) in FRANKLIN, MISSISSIPPI
From 24-SEP-05 08:00:00 to 25-SEP-05 21:00:00 (CST)
Property damage: 40K
Crop damage: 100K
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.

Hurricane (Typhoon) in HINDS, MISSISSIPPI
From 24-SEP-05 08:00:00 to 25-SEP-05 21:00:00 (CST)
Property damage: 20K
Crop damage: 100K
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.

Hurricane (Typhoon) in ISSAQUENA, MISSISSIPPI
From 24-SEP-05 08:00:00 to 25-SEP-05 21:00:00 (CST)
Property damage: 10K
Crop damage: 100K
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.